Controlling mechanism for powerdriven machines



D. PARKS July 3, 1934.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR POWER DRIVEN MACHINES Filed Nov. 10, 1928 I/vvsA/ oR:

DENNIS PARKS. ayflw J. m

ATTORNEK Patented July 3, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR POVVER- DRIVEN MACHINES 5 Claims.

This invention relates to improved means for operating and controlling the movement of a machine having a working member which is designed to have imparted to it an intermittent reciprocating motion.

The invention is more especially designed for use with machines employing a working member which is moved in one direction to accomplish a given work and then returned to an initial position in readiness to repeat the operation. In the particular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawing, it is applied to a heel-building machine, and such invention in such embodiment was heretofore described and illustrated, but not claimed, in an application filed by me July 26th, 1928, and serially numbered 295,395.

The general object of the invention is to provide simple means to automatically limit the extent of movement of a power-actuated working member or head and substantially simultaneously disconnect the motive power from the same and thereby permit of its automatic return to initial position.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the return of the working member or head is effected by gravity, and this is readily accomplished because the working member or head travels on an upwardly-inclined bed-plate. In machines, however, where a head or carriage would move in a horizontal plane, the return of such part could be automatically effected by means of a spring, or by any other well known means.

The dominating characteristic of the invention is the fact that the machine is brought to rest and the sliding head or working member simultaneously disconnected from the motive power by co-action between two movable members of the machine which had previously co-operated to drive the machine and produce the forward movement of said head or working member.

In the drawing Figure l is a view in side elevation of the heelbuilding machine of the general type illustrated in my pending application above referred to, and of the general type illustrated in another pending application Ser. No. 262,424, filed March 17th, 1928, the upper part of the race-way of the machine being broken away; and

Figure 2 is a view in rear elevation of the same.

In the particular machine illustrated, the heelblank is built up against the face of a sliding carriage comprising two relatively movable parts, one upon which the heel-blank is built up and the other containing nailing mechanism, with means for moving said carriage in a direction to bring the built-up heel-blank into engagement with a previously formed heel-blank in a container, whereby the motion of that portion of the carriage will be temporarily arrested, and the other part of the carriage containing the nailing mechanism will be advanced to drive the nail into the heel-blank.

My improved operating and control mechanism is associated with this sliding carriage, and functions to automatically arrest the movement of the carriage after the nail has been driven into the heel-blank, and to disengage the carriage from the motive power to permit of its return to initial position.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral 1 indicates the main frame of the machine, the top portion of which is inclined forwardly and has supported thereon a combined heel-log container and race-way. The race-way is indicated at 2 and comprises two parallel bars having rounded connections at either end and provided with a continuous slot in which are slidably mounted the heads of a set of equalizing plates 3. Below the race-way and parallel with the lower side thereof is a bed-plate 4 which co-operates with the lower member 5 of the race-way to provide a pressure container for heel-blanks 6 forced therein. The plate 4 is, in effect, a breast-plate; that is to say, that breasts of the heels rest upon it as they pass into and through the container. The bed-plate has a portion extending forwardly beyond the lower end of the race-way 2, which extending portion is indicated at '7, and which serves as a table for supporting the heel-lifts as they are assembled to form the heel-blanks 6, and which also serves to operatively support a sliding carriage indicated generally by the numeral 8. This carriage is formed in two main parts, namely, a head 9 and a heel-former 10. Projecting from the bottom of the head 9 is an arm 11 which is secured to the forward end of an actuating bar 12. The sliding carriage 3 is adapted to be moved forward to force the assembled lifts into the pressure container and to cause a nail to be driven through said lifts, and then to return to its initial position, or that shown in Fig. 1, through the instrumentality of the mechanism now to be described.

Secured to the forward end of the actuating bar 12 is a chain 13 which passes over an idler sprocket 14 and then is extended downwardly and secured at its end to a drum 15 which forms the hub of one member of a ring clutch shown in detail in Fig. 2. The drum 15 is loosely mounted on a shaft 16 which is adapted to be continuously rotated from a pulley 17. Mounted on the inner end of the drum 15 is ring member 18 which is opposed to a corresponding ring member 19 which is fast on the shaft 16. The drum 15 is provided on its outer end with inclined surfaces 20 which engage corresponding surfaces of a fixed cam member 21 mounted on one side of the frame 1. Projecting radially from the drum 15 is an arm 22 to which is pivotally secured the upper end of a connecting rod 23, the lower end of which is connected to a treadle 24 intermediate the point of pivotal connection 25 of the treadle on the frame and its inner end. By pressing downwardly on the inner end of the treadle, its opposite end will be raised, thereby lifting the arm 22 and turning the drum 15 so that the engagement of the inclined surfaces 20 and 21 will force the drum to the right, as shown in Fig. 2, bringing the clutch member 18 into engagement with the clutch member 19 and thereby causing the drum 15 to be rotated to wind the chain 13 thereon. This, of course, pulls the chain downwardly over the sprocket 14 and draws the sliding head 9 toward the heel-former 10, after which the carriage 8 as a whole will be moved upwardly over the bed 4 to carry the heel-blank built up in the heel-former into the heel-blank container.

In order to automatically arrest this movement of the carriage after it has travelled the required distance to perform its functions, I adjustably secure on the vertical run of the chain 13 a stop 26 which is adapted to engage in its downward movement the upper end of a rod 2'? slidably supported in a guide 28 mounted on the frame and pivotally connected at its lower end to the inner end of the treadle 24, as indicated at 29. As the chain is wound upon the drum 15 to advance the carriage 8, the stop descends and engages the upper end of rod 27 and thereby prevents further rotation of the clutch. That is to say, any further downward movement of the stop 26 would move the inner end of the treadle 24 downward and open the clutch members 18 and 19. This as sumes that the operator would maintain pressure on the treadle by holding his foot thereon, in which event no harm could occur, for as soon as pressure was exerted by the foot to close the clutch, the stop 26 would move the rod 27 downward to open the clutch. In practice, the stop is adjusted to engage the upper end of the rod 27 synchronously with the arrival of the carriage 8 at the desired limit of its upward movement, and as this brings such movement to a stop, the operator learns to remove his foot from the treadle at this time, whereupon the inner end of the treadle will fall by gravity to release the clutch and the carriage 8 will slide backward by gravity over the bed 4 to its position on the bottom end of said bed, or that position shown in Fig. 1. To further explain this operation, it will be obvious that when stop 26 strikes the end of rod 27, it will tend to raise the outer end of treadle 24 in opposition to the downward pressure of the foot of the operator, who then lifts his foot from the treadle and permits the automatic return of the parts, as above described.

It will be clear from an inspection of Fig. 2 that the clutch member 18 has only a very slight movement relative to the clutch member 19. In fact, in a full-size machine, such movement is only a small fraction of an inch. It will be apparent, therefore, that the moment the stop 26 engages the upper end of rod'27, there will be a momentary opening of the clutch, and unless the operator should purposely continue pressing with his foot,

the automatic return of the parts will at once occur as described.

To arrest the return movement of the parts when they have reached the desired position, I provide a stop 30 on the outer side of the clutch member 18 which is adapted to engage with the inner end of an adjustable stop bar 31 which has a screwthreaded portion 32 mounted on the frame and provided with a lock-nut 33, whereby the stop bar 31 can be positioned to be engaged by the stop 30 to stop the carriage 8, the clutch member 18, and the treadle 24 at the respective positions thereof desired.

I do not consider it necessary to describe in detail the operation of the heel-forming mechanism and of the nailing mechanism, which occur in the upward movement of the sliding carriage 8, as such operations are fully described in my pending application Ser. No. 295,395, before referred to, and, as such, form no part of the present invention.

The stop 26 has been referred to as adjustable, and to this end, it may be secured on the chain 13 by any desired detachable means, such as bolts or screws, indicated by the numeral 34, by unscrewing or unfastening which the stop may be moved to any desired position on the chain and then secured in place.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, in combination w h an inclined support, a working member slidably mounted on said support, a winding drum, power-driven mechanism including a clutch for driving said drum, a chain secured at one end to said working member and at its other to said drum, a gravity-controlled treadle, means operated by depressing said treadle for closing said clutch, a member carried by said treadle and moved in one direction by depressing the treadle, and a stop mounted on said chain and movable in the opposite direction to said member to engage it when the clutch is closed and a portion of said chain wound on said drum, whereby to arrest the movement of said working member, and means for effecting, automatically, the opening of said clutch and the return of the working member to initial position when the operator ceases to exert pressure on said treadle.

2. In a machine of the class described, in combination with an inclined support, a working member slidably mounted thereon, a winding drum, power-driven mechanism including a clutch for rotating said drum, a gravity-controlled treadle, means operated by depressing said treadle for closing said clutch, a rod mounted at one end on the outer end of said treadle and adapted to be raised when the treadle is depressed by the operator to close said clutch, a chain connected at one end to said working member and at its other to said drum, a stop adjustably mounted on said chain and in the path of the end of said rod, whereby when the clutch is closed and held closed by the operator, the chain will be wound on said drum until said stop engages the upper end of said rod to arrest further movement of the chain, the construction providing for effecting, automatically, the opening of said clutch and the return of said working member to its initialposition by the force of gravity when the operator ceases to exert pressure on said treadle.

3. In a machine of the class described, in combination with an inclined support, a working member slidably mounted thereon, a winding drum, a chain operatively connecting said working member and said winding drum, power-driven mechanism for rotating said drum, comprising a driven shaft and a clutch, one member of said clutch being fast on the shaft and the other slidably mounted thereon, a gravity-controlled treadle, means connected therewith for closing the clutch when the treadle is depressed, a rod mounted on the outer end of the treadle and adapted to be raised when the treadle is depressed to close the clutch, a stop on said chain located in the path of the upper end of said rod, whereby when the clutch is closed, the chain will be wound upon said drum to move the working member upward on said inclined support until the stop on said chain engages the upper end of said rod and prevents further movement of the cable, the construction providing for efiecting, automatically, the opening of said clutch and the return of the working member to initial position, by gravity, when the operator ceases to exert pressure on said treadle, a fixed stop on the machine and the complemental stop on said sliding clutch member, the latter being adapted to engage the former and to arrest the rotation of said clutch member due to the unwinding of said chain from said drum caused by the descent of the working member on its support.

4. In a machine of the class described, in combination with a slidable working member and actuating means for moving the same in one direction, power-driven mechanism for operating said actuating means including a clutch, a treadle pivotally mounted intermediate its ends, clutchoperating means connectedto said treadle beyond its pivot, a rod mounted at its lower end on the outer end of said treadle and adapted to be raised when the treadle is depressed to close the clutch, and a stop on said actuating means adapted to engage the upper end of said rod to prevent further movement of said actuating means, the construction providing for effecting, automatically, the opening of said clutch, the return of the working member to its initial position, and the separation of said stop and rod, whenever the operator ceases to exert pressure upon said treadle.

5. In a machine of the type described having an inclined support, a working member slidably mounted on said support, actuating means for moving said working member in one direction against the force of gravity, power-driven mechanism including a clutch for operating said actuating means, gravity-controlled manually-operable means for closing said clutch and holding it closed at the will of the operator, and automatic means for arresting the movement of said working member at a predetermined point, comprising independently movable members carried, respectively, by said actuating means and said clutchclosing means and movable in the same path in right lines in opposite directions in the closing of said clutch whereby to engage each other and stop further movement of said actuating means, the construction providing for the automatic opening of the clutch when said manually-operable means are released by the operator, and for the automatic return by gravity of said working member to its initial position.

DENNIS PARKS. 

